Do You Remember That One Time In Fifth Grade?
by Number1PixarFan
Summary: M is for Mama's Boy spoilers! Kind of a sequel to "Calm Down." Matilda is happy that her parents are finally letting her date Flinch. But there's one person she needs to clear things up with first. Ultimately, Flintilda. Rated for minor coarse language.
1. One Boy: That's the Way It Should Be

**A/N: Okay! So instead of working on other long-neglected stories that need to be updated or starting long-awaited projects in **_**other **_**fandoms, I go start a new same-old same-old Flintilda story. But you see, I had to. Because Michael Buckley killed the dream and I needed to revive it. **

**I got M is for Mama's Boy and it was absolutely AMAZING! Except for one little unpleasant thing (ahead be SPOILERS): Throughout the book, there are little hints that Matilda has a micro-crush on Duncan, and then in the end, she kisses him on the nose. I had to throw the book across the room a little bit when that happened, but then I realized: This whole Matilda/Duncan thing was completely one-sided. Duncan didn't even care when she kissed him. And so this leaves room for the stupid pairing to break up and for the good pairing to prevail. And this, a followup to my earlier fic, "Calm Down," is how it happens. **

**By the way, chapter titles are all going to be lyrics from Bye Bye Birdie, because I just finished being in a community production of it and I recognized parallels to the lyrics in what I have planned for this story.**

**Hope you like it, and please review!**

* * *

Matilda probably would have run all the way home had it not been a hazard to her health. More than anything she wanted to be home as soon as possible. She turned fourteen today. Spending a birthday on a bus full of bullies was not ideal.

But she had no choice but to ride the bus as always. She wouldn't complain about it, however. Admittedly, there was an upside.

Brett Bealer emptied a bottle of root beer onto Matilda's head, but she barely even shivered. She could wash the soda out of her hair when she got home. Plus, her attention was directed more at the seat across from her than the seat behind her.

It was one of the main reasons she wanted to see her parents soon. See, they had a rule – Matilda couldn't have what was in that seat for herself until she turned fourteen. If they followed through today, starting tomorrow she wouldn't have to remain "just friends" with the curly-haired Hispanic boy being yelled at by the bus driver not to stand on top of his seat.

Flinch caught Matilda's gaze as he reluctantly sat back down. He flashed a friendly smile and raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"It'll be today, right?" he asked. He was as eager for this to happen as she was.

Matilda nodded. "I'm sure of it. And if not, it'll be sometime soon."

Flinch leaned back in his seat. "God, I hope so. You know, we've been waiting for this for almost_ three years_," he reminded her. "Why can't we just – " He paused to lower his voice. " – be together already?" None of their friends really knew anything about their planned relationship and neither wanted to tell them until it was official.

"Trust me, we will be soon."

When they reached Matilda's stop, her friends all wished her a happy birthday as she stood up. She avoided the bully's foot spread out across the aisle, waiting to trip her, and made one last moment of hopeful eye contact with Flinch. As she swept her eyes back to the road, she glanced slightly at Duncan sitting next to his best friend and had the strangest thought. What would _he _think about her and Flinch going together? Would it be awkward, considering . . .

Matilda shook it off. Nah, it wouldn't be a problem. For all she knew, Duncan had completely forgotten the little incident that happened three years prior.

* * *

She raced inside and made her way to the kitchen, where her mother was putting away groceries. "Hey, Mom, I'm home!" she announced.

"How was school, Birthday Girl?" her mother answered. She turned around to face her daughter with a smile, but that smile quickly became a grimace. "What's in your hair?"

Matilda sighed. "Root beer," she said, exasperated. "On the bus."

Her mother waved her upstairs. "Go wash it out," she ordered kindly. "You don't want sticky hair. Dad will be home soon, and after that we have something to talk to you about."

Matilda smiled to herself. She was pretty sure she knew exactly what her parents wanted to talk about. She tried to suppress her anticipation and went upstairs.

Matilda figured out a way to shampoo and rinse her hair without actually having to waste time starting a shower. She forwent drying her hair conventionally and took a risk blasting her nano-powered inhalers near her head. She had been doing this for years and rarely set her clothes on fire.

When she went back downstairs, her mother and father were both sitting expectantly at the kitchen table. "Okay, so what do we need to talk about?" Matilda asked.

Her dad smiled. "Come on. Sit down."

Matilda obliged and her mother spoke up. It seemed like she was trying not to appear upset. "Well, Matilda, you turn fourteen today. We think that you are old enough and mature enough to –" She drifted off as she fought back tears.

Matilda nodded in excitement. "Old enough to what?" she urged.

Her mother sighed and concluded, "Well, old enough to date boys."

Matilda grinned. _I knew it, _she thought to herself. "Really? That's great," she said to her parents.

"Well, don't get too excited too fast. There are still rules, of course," her dad informed her. "If you're on a date, for instance, you can't be alone. There has to be someone else with you. One of us, or another friend."

Her mom, who seemed to have regained her composure, nodded. "Right. And we have to approve of a boy before you go out with him."

"Okay." Matilda bit her lip. Uh-oh. Would her parents approve of Flinch? They already knew and liked all four of her friends, but would they think of him as good boyfriend material for their daughter? These kinds of things were pretty hit or miss when it came to Flinch: either they thought yes or they thought no.

So she decided to approach the situation from a different angle. "You guys don't think I might have trouble finding a boyfriend, do you? I mean, considering I'm not the most popular girl in school," she muttered.

"Well, I hope that won't be too much of a problem," her mother answered. "Maybe one of those boys that you're friends with will come around someday."

Matilda nodded. "Wait, would you be okay with _any _of those boys?"

Her mom knit her eyebrows. "The boys you're friends with? Sure. They're good kids."

Matilda smiled. That was nice to hear. "Then do I have a story for you," she said enthusiastically. "A few years ago, one of my friends and I figured out that we liked each other, so we decided that once you, my parents, decided that I was allowed to have a boyfriend, we would go together. As boyfriend and girlfriend."

"Who is he?" Matilda's father interjected.

"Flinch," Matilda told him without a bit of shame.

Her father still hadn't had his question answered. "Which one is Flinch?" he asked.

He didn't know Matilda's friends by nicknames, but luckily, his wife did. She looked doubtful as she told him, "'Flinch' is Julio's nickname, honey."

"Julio? Really?" Dad reiterated uncertainly. "I always thought it would be – "

Matilda's face fell slightly. "Who?"

Her mother shook her head. "Nobody, dear. We're – we're happy for you, really! Julio is a very smart boy. Very kind. Definitely – eccentric. And obviously, you really like him, so we're glad."

Matilda smiled. "Great." On the inside, though, she was confused. Were her parents really expecting her to be with someone else? If so, then who? She would bet money they weren't imagining her with Jackson, so that only left –

Oh, crap.

* * *

**A/N: For those worried, Flintilda will win in the end. At least in this story. **

**Hope you liked it! Please review.**


	2. Did They Really Get Pinned?

**A/N: Yay, this chapter was done quickly! Thank you all for your reviews (and you're welcome to TearWorkshop! I really needed this, too.) I'm wondering why the people who have not yet read M is for Mama's Boy are reading spoilers so readily, but I'm glad you reviewed all the same. **

**I really shouldn't be writing this much, since school starts in two weeks and I've still got homework to do. But I love writing fanfiction so much! It's difficult to prioritize. LOL.**

**Please R&R!**

**

* * *

**

Flinch, Duncan, Ruby, and Jackson were gathered outside the school's main entrance when Matilda rushed excitedly over to them the next morning. They all turned to face her when they heard her squeaky asthma-induced panting, but when she was back to breathing normally and spoke, it was all to Flinch.

"My parents said I can have a boyfriend now!" she told him gleefully.

Flinch laughed joyously. "Yes! Finally!" he exclaimed, opening his arms wide.

Matilda squealed and leaped into his arms. She lifted her feet off the ground and held onto his neck, which was difficult for Flinch to support. "Um. Not wearing the harness right now," he grunted.

"Sorry." Matilda let herself drop.

It took their teammates some time to figure out what was going on in front of them. "What the _hell _is going on?" Ruby shouted incredulously.

"Oh." Flinch threw an arm around Matilda's shoulders. "We're going out now."

Ruby raised an eyebrow in question. She wasn't too current when it came to even the most obvious lingo. Luckily, Jackson was there to translate. "You mean, like, she's your girlfriend?"

Matilda smiled. She liked having that word used to describe her. "And he's my boyfriend!" she concluded.

Ruby narrowed her eyes slightly and rigidly began, "That's not . . . it can't be allowed . . . " But then her forehead sprouted clusters of hives and she broke down in tears. "Oh, who am I kidding?" she wailed. "It's totally legal and I'm happy for you guys!" She reached out for a hug, but then realized the sickening degree of redness her arm had grown to and withdrew. "Sorry. Every emotion I'm feeling right now is setting off an insane allergic reaction."

"Does this have anything to do with the time I thought I saw you guys kissing?" Jackson inquired.

"Oh, it's everything to do with that," Flinch answered.

Jackson crossed his arms. "You guys told me that was a comatose dream."

The next ten minutes before class started were peppered with questions from Jackson and Ruby about how they got to this point, as well as the gender-specific "Way to go, dude!" congratulations. But that's not to mention the especially painful "Why him?" conversation.

"Don't get me wrong, Matilda. I think it's great that you've found a boyfriend. And I'm happy for Flinch, too," Ruby whispered privately to her friend. "But I'm just wondering. Why did you choose _him, _the spaz, of all people? What's special about him that makes you like him so much?"

Matilda hadn't planned out an answer for this. In fact, she hadn't really thought about her reasons at all. But when she gave Ruby her response to this question, she realized that the reasons were all there. "Well, he's smart, and he's funny. If you ever got to talk with Flinch one-on-one, you'd see that he's a really sweet guy. From a distance he seems crazy, but he has a heart." She gazed at her new boyfriend (oh my god!) and added, "Plus, if you look at him through all the shaking and twitching, he's actually pretty cute."

Ruby shrugged, amused. "I guess," she said.

The other part of the reason was one that Matilda wasn't keen on sharing. The truth was, Flinch was also quite an improvement on her previous crush. Early in fifth grade – the year that changed the lives of all five kids tremendously – Matilda liked someone else. He was also very smart, not to mention kind. He might have been the nicest person she knew. But it was a short-lived crush, barely lasting two months. She kind of wrecked it when she impulsively displayed her feelings for him and he didn't even react.

After that, her crush on the one and only Duncan Dewey vanished. It wasn't long after that she began to notice his best friend, Flinch, in the same way. But this was different. The two boys shared many good attributes. Both were smart (although that came with being international spies), and both were nice to her. But while Duncan was merely polite to everyone, Flinch was more of what she had told Ruby earlier: sweet. Gentlemanly. Romantic, even, if you ignored the fact that the idea of kissing irked him a bit. And he was exciting to be around. And he was cute. And, possibly most important, he liked her back.

When their mutual feelings were revealed three years ago, Matilda and Flinch both went officially head over heels, and she almost completely forgot about the little incident with Duncan. But now, of all times, she was reminded of it. Her parents seemed to have thought Duncan was a better boyfriend for her. Ruby was confused as to why she liked her actual boyfriend (once again, oh my god!) so much.

Matilda knew she liked Flinch and nobody else. But she couldn't help noticing that the one last disconnected point on their love triangle had been standing off to the side ever since they announced that they were dating. He had barely said anything about it, either. Maybe he said one word of congratulations to his friend, but otherwise all he did was look in Matilda's direction, visibly confused.

She felt guilty about throwing this curve ball at him, so she decided to go talk to him. Maybe clear up what happened three years ago, or at least get the tiniest bit of closure concerning it.

It was time for first period and the group was beginning to discreetly make their way down the hall to the math classroom. Matilda pushed her way past Ruby so she was walking between Flinch and Duncan. She linked arms with Flinch and beamed lightheartedly at him.

"Isn't it great that we have all of our classes together, _sweetie?_" she chirped mirthfully.

Flinch grinned. "You're gonna have to stop me from jumping on top of my desk during every one and announcing that I have a girlfriend, okay?" he said. "Otherwise, I will _totally_ do that."

Matilda giggled. "Okay!" Then she quickly turned her head away from him and caught Duncan's eye.

Duncan raised an eyebrow. "Um, hey," he said, though uncomfortably. "So you're going steady with Flinch now? Congratulations . . . "

Matilda raised an index finger, cutting him off. "Thanks, but there's something we really need to talk about when we get the chance," she whispered.

Duncan looked bewildered. "What?" he asked.

"Well, let's just say for now that I'm –" Matilda was about to give the vague hint that she was sorry, but she was interrupted by an enormous sneeze. All five teammates were sounded the alarm for a mission.

"I guess we don't have to go to first period, then," Jackson said.

_Darn, _Matilda thought. Just as she got up the nerve to finally address this thing that had been eating at her for so long.

At least Flinch was excited. "I get a girlfriend _and _we're going on a mission? This is the most freaking awesome day ever!"

* * *

**A/N: The way I see it, I'll get this story done in four chapters. It's already halfway done. :-( But I hope you still liked it! Please review.**


	3. Talk To Me

**A/N: So, I guess today is the **_**official **_**release date of M is for Mama's Boy. Maybe this is to celebrate that. I don't know. But now everyone will be able to read the second book! Yay!**

**Thanks so, so much to all of my reviewers. I seriously love you guys. Sometimes I feel like I don't acknowledge my reviewers enough, but I like it to be known that I'm very grateful for your feedback.**

**Long-ish chapter ahead. There's some mildly suggestive stuff in the very beginning, though it's nowhere near bad enough to warrant a warning in the summary. In this chapter, I also demonstrate the fact that I know way too much pointless stuff about Disney World. **

**I hope you like it! And please R&R!**

* * *

The NERDS rushed to their lockers before anyone caught sight of them. As per routine they were chuted down the slides into the Playground. At this point, all of the agents had been on the team for long enough time to not even notice the nauseating twists and turns on the way down.

Agent Brand and Ms. Holiday were waiting for them in the main room. Ms. Holiday, chipper as always, motioned for them to sit down at the table in the room's center. "Good morning, agents," she said. "You're all looking rather perky today!" she added, making note of Flinch's wide grin, Matilda's beaming, and the upbeat energy they sparked in most of their other teammates. "What's so exciting?"

"Well, if you must know . . . " Flinch leaped out of his seat and onto the tabletop. Standing proudly just to the side of the hole in the table's center, he twisted his body around on his toes and concluded the dance step with a pelvic thrust, classily aimed in Matilda's direction. Then he gestured to her grandly with both hands and announced, "I have a girlfriend!"

"Well, don't be so crude about it!" Matilda scolded. "But yeah. We're officially boyfriend and girlfriend."

Flinch slid back into his chair. "I prefer to think of it less like 'crude' and more like 'flattering,'" he corrected

Ms. Holiday placed a hand over her heart. It was obvious that she found this adorable, if not somewhat surprising. "That's wonderful, kids! When exactly did this happen?" she asked.

"Either this morning or three years ago. Depends on how you look at it," Matilda said.

"I'd say that it's a delayed reaction from something else that happened three years ago," Jackson supplied. His teammates just stared at him, dumbfounded.

"Though it's good to see that Flinch and Wheezer are maturing, remember that you still have responsibilities as secret agents," Agent Brand interrupted. He hadn't shown any sort of emotional change at this news. "And speaking of which, you have a mission to embark on."

"Where are we going?" Duncan asked enthusiastically. As the discussion changed to being about spy work, he suddenly got much more into it. Matilda noticed this forlornly.

"Disney World," Ms. Holiday answered.

Jackson's mouth dropped open. "Seriously? Whichever bad guy is hiding out there, I like his taste."

"It's Dr. Blake on the search for his last, most important piece," Ms. Holiday informed them.

Ruby grimaced. "The Frankenstein guy?" The NERDS had so far confronted Dr. Blake three times and each time, he had gotten away.

Ms. Holiday placed a Benjamin orb on the table, and it sprung to life with information. "Dr. Henry Blake, on his quest to emulate the work of his fictional idol, Dr. Frankenstein, has so far scavenged body parts such as torsos from mummies in the great pyramids of Egypt and the legs of George Washington at Mount Vernon. His creation cannot function, however, without a head, the center of the nervous system. He is now reportedly going after the head of famous cartoonist Walt Disney, which is rumored to be frozen cryogenically and buried under Cinderella Castle in the Walt Disney World theme park . . . "

Matilda only half paid attention to the presentation. She was losing time she needed to set things straight with Duncan. Why, of all the conversations in the world, had that one been interrupted? She already knew plenty about Disney World, so why couldn't she continue it now?

She summoned her nasal implant to start up and then she pictured Duncan's face. She brought a hand to her mouth and whispered, "Hey, Gluestick, like I was saying before, there's something I really, _really _need to talk to you about."

Duncan looked bewildered. He motioned to the mission briefing going on before them and whispered back, "You need to talk about it _right now?_ What is your problem?"

"Since the iconic castle is centrally located in the Magic Kingdom park, all of the – zzzt! Zzt!" Benjamin buzzed, shorting out. The image changed from a map of the Magic Kingdom to a flustered-looking hologram of Benjamin Franklin, the computer's namesake. "There appears to be some interference in my system," it said. "I ask that you please refrain from chatting via nasal implants whilst I am relaying vital information."

Matilda decided to just shut up for the next five minutes and maybe for the whole rest of the day. She turned her full attention to the mission briefing (Dr. Blake was apparently conducting his experiments inside the Haunted Mansion – not predictable at all.) Maybe she just didn't need to clear anything up with anyone as much as she thought.

But her earlier persistence had peaked Duncan's interest/annoyed him into caring. As they left the Playground to get to the School Bus, he approached her and asked, "Okay, what do you need to talk about that's so urgent?"

Matilda bit her lip. She turned to Flinch, who she was proudly walking next to, and said, "Hey, I'll sit next to you on the rocket, okay?"

Flinch winked. "I'll be waiting," he answered.

Matilda let herself fall slightly behind the group as Duncan already had. He looked at her expectantly. "Okay, now, what gives?"

"Well," Matilda began quietly so nobody else could hear, "you know that I have a boyfriend now, but I don't know how comfortable I'll be with it if I don't clear something up with you first."

"Okay," Duncan said. He seemed to have an idea of where this was going.

"Um . . . " This was as hard as Matilda anticipated it would be. She thought she might ease the painfulness if she did it more indirectly. Against her better judgement, she turned up her nose bug again. Looking away from him, she whispered behind her hand, "You're probably still kind of confused about the time we were fighting Heathcliff and the Nesbitts inside the elementary school. When I . . . "

She drifted off, ashamed of past actions. Duncan helped her out with completing her sentence. "When you kissed me on the nose? Yeah, a little. But you never brought it up afterwards, so I tried to forget about it."

Matilda grimaced. He was speaking a little louder than necessary. Nobody heard him, but she wasn't going to tempt fate by having this conversation out loud. She spoke even more quietly into the nose bug, trying to send him the message. Still, he didn't seem too angry or anything about the situation, so she turned to face him as she said, "Yeah. But you seemed so unhappy when Flinch and I got together. I just wanted to make it clear that there was a short period during fifth grade when, yes, I did like you. But I'm over that."

"I think it was because you were a hero," she continued, turning off her nasal implant. Now that she had a jumpstart, her explanation was just spilling out. "You saved the world from one of the biggest threats it had seen in a long time. That was exciting. But kissing you was a really stupid thing to do. When you didn't respond, the feelings just went away. No offense, but you just aren't the right guy. Then I had a crush on Flinch and found out that he liked me back. I just forgot about what happened with you and now I'm really sorry that I never got closure on that."

Duncan was silent for a moment as he took in her whole speech. Then he said, "You know, to be honest, I never concerned myself about what happened. It was like I said earlier: You didn't bring it up, so I didn't think it was important. And maybe I assumed it was some sort of thanks for saving the day, like you pointed out."

Matilda slumped her shoulders. "So you're saying that I'm worrying myself over nothing?" she summarized.

"Not totally. I was a little confused at first, so some closure was nice," Duncan reassured her. "And you and Flinch together? I never saw that coming."

Matilda laughed gratefully. "I don't think anyone did."

"Well, I'm glad about it, and he's obviously very happy as well." Duncan motioned to Flinch. Now that they were in the gymnasium and waiting for the School Bus to be ready for boarding, he was occupying his time by dancing the Peyton Place After Midnight. "He looks like he's just won the Super Bowl."

"Good thing we're going to Disney World," Matilda joked. She felt like she had just won something, too. Duncan was so forgiving about the whole thing and she felt like a weight had just been lifted. Add her adorable dancy-pants boyfriend (Oh. My. God.), and how could she be any luckier when it came to friends?

Maybe if Ruby were a little nicer. And Jackson a little smarter. But otherwise, she had it pretty good for a short, supposedly unpopular nerd.

* * *

**A/N: Unfortunately, the next chapter might be the last. I might have some stuff for other chapters later that loosely connects with it, but that might be kind of pointless. **

**Please review!**


	4. Give Me One Last Kiss

**A/N: Last chapter for this story, as well as probably the only new chapter for NERDS that's not in my 100 Words fic to be updated for a little bit. :-( I love this fandom, but I need to do some stuff in my other fandoms too. **

**I hope you like this conclusion! For a change, this one is all fluff. No more baggage, because that was resolved in the last chapter. Please R&R!**

* * *

Matilda strapped herself into her seat on the School Bus. As promised, she made sure that Flinch sat next to her.

"What was going on back there?" Flinch asked. He removed a package of Skittles from his pocket and poured a handful into his mouth. The light on his harness started to glow immediately.

Matilda shook her head. "Nothing. Duncan had a question about how we got together. Kind of," she fibbed.

"Still, are you okay? It seemed like a pretty intense conversation," Flinch said quickly. The sugar was causing him to speak a little too rapidly.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Matilda smiled at her hyperactive boyfriend. "Actually, I don't think I could be any happier right now."

"Attention, agents," Ms. Holiday proclaimed. "I have your packs ready."

The NERDS each reached under their seats and found a brown paper bag with supplies in them. Duncan and Ruby were posing as underage security guards at the Castle, and thus their packs contained all-black uniforms with the words WALT DISNEY WORLD SECURITY printed on the back. Since the other agents only needed to be wearing their street clothes, the rest were empty except for a canteen of water and one of Ms. Holiday's reject cookies.

Matilda placed the canteen next to her, took a quick hit of her inhaler, and went to put the rest under her seat. Before she did, however, Flinch tapped her on the shoulder and asked, "Hey, if you're not going to eat your cookie, can I have it?"

Matilda looked at him in disbelief. "You actually like them?"

Flinch (who was at the same time still eating his candy) made a face and explained, "No, they're crap. But sugar's sugar. If I ever run out of good stuff on a mission, the cookies can power my upgrades just as well as anything can. Unfortunately."

Matilda laughed and graciously handed him her cookie. It was little comments like that which she liked so much about him. They just made her want to –

There was something she needed to do. Right now.

She turned to Flinch. He was in the middle of a mouthful of Skittles, so she waited for him to swallow before she said, "You know, now that we're dating, there's something we can do now that we really couldn't do yesterday."

Flinch raised an eyebrow. "What?"

The lunch lady's voice boomed from the cockpit. "We have liftoff in three, two –"

When the countdown reached "one," Matilda grabbed onto Flinch's suspenders by the shoulder, and then, just as the School Bus started to rumble and lift itself off the ground, she kissed him. It was such perfect timing, Flinch dropped his candy. Skittles rolled all over the floor and under the seats, but nobody seemed to care, least of all those two.

When they broke apart, Flinch was left speechless for a few seconds. Then he shakily turned the knob on his harness and muttered, "Wow."

Matilda grinned fondly. He grinned back. From the back of the rocket, the two kids could hear a new, cheery giggle. They turned to see Ms. Holiday with her fingers over her mouth, trying to suppress excited laughter. Her other hand was over her heart. She thought two of her agents kissing was the most precious thing she had ever seen.

Flinch made light of this by joking to Matilda loud enough for the librarian to hear, "That'll be a story to tell our kids, huh? That our first kiss was in a spaceship?"

"But it wasn't," Matilda whispered in response. Flinch just shrugged and laughed.

Within a minute or so Ms. Holiday stopped caring, so Flinch stopped joking. "Seriously, Matilda, I don't think we'll officially be dating until we actually go on a date," he said. "So . . . do you want to go to a movie on Saturday?"

"Oh, sure," Matilda answered. "There's just one thing. My parents say if I'm on a date with you, there has to be someone else with us."

Flinch thought for a second and then decided, "That's not a problem." He leaned over the seat in front of him. "Hey, D, you want to go to a movie with us on Saturday?"

Duncan raised an eyebrow and smiled knowingly at Matilda. "Sure," he said.

Flinch nodded and leaned back. "Told you it wasn't a problem," he gloated.

"We're nearing the drop point," the lunch lady announced.

"Okay, agents, we're not going to use the Wind Breakers today because the Florida sun will give you heat exhaustion," Ms. Holiday informed them. Duncan seemed a little disappointed by this news, but Jackson was visibly relieved.

Matilda didn't care what they used as parachutes – if something went wrong with skydiving, she could always whip out her inhalers and use them to float to the ground. All she knew was that she was super-excited at the moment and totally ready to jump.

"You kids had better go now or you'll be landing in the trees outside the park limits," the lunch lady urged.

Matilda nodded. "All right!" She rushed to the front, grabbed her parachute, slipped it on, and was willingly the first person to leap from the rocket.

She kept her body straight as she fell, focusing on the destination below her. They were aiming to land just outside Splash Mountain (it was a concealed area, pretty much equidistant from the Castle and Dr. Blake's hideout.) It was neat to look at the Magic Kingdom from this height. The entire park had to be closed for the day in order not to arouse suspicion about the NERDS and their mission, and seeing the streets empty and the rides at a standstill was pretty humbling. The place was so huge!

She didn't know when her teammates had jumped exactly, but soon she felt another hand slip into hers, one with a very tight grip. She smiled to see that it belonged to Flinch.

"We've gotta protect each other now," he explained.

Forget that there were three other teammates above them and approaching their speed fast, and ignore the fact that they were about to confront a notorious criminal. Matilda was free-falling with her new super-sweet boyfriend into Disney World, with no third person in the mix to threaten their relationship. Life was pretty good at the moment.

"Part of me really wants to kiss you right now!" Flinch said. "But that might throw us off-course while we're skydiving!" The roaring wind forced him to have to shout this.

"Hey, lovebirds! You've still got to focus on the mission!" Ruby scolded from above.

Flinch blushed. "Sorry!"

Well, all good things have at least one little bug in them, right?

* * *

**A/N: I hope you liked this chapter, as well as this fic in general. I won't be writing new NERDS stuff for a bit (I've been going fandom crazy and I need a short break), but if you still need more, check out SG 100 Words Challenge: NERDS Style. That is made of short chapters and will be updated very regularly.**


End file.
